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Home » Education » Math » FISHING FOR NUMBERS – LEARNING NUMBERS, COLOURS, AND LETTERS

FISHING FOR NUMBERS – LEARNING NUMBERS, COLOURS, AND LETTERS

July 25, 2012 by Crystal McClean

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 Children love a fun challenge and to imitate adults.  This fishing for numbers and letters game ticks all the boxes.  It’s fun, lively, and educational to boot! 

Crystal's tiny Treasures Childminding in whitehead, fun kids games, kids learning games, photo

Fishing for numbers and colours

I remember similar games from my childhood and this was also popular among the children I taught in Japan.  I cut out 10 fish from various colours of construction paper.  I drew on little eyes, mouth and gills and a number on each of them so that the numbers 1 to 10 were covered.

Fishing for numbers, 12345 Once I caught a fish Alive, gone fishing, children fishing, fun number learning, learning colours, photo

I then laminated the fishing for numbers cards with contact paper.  I put 3 staples through the area of the mouth (that on some happen to look conveniently like teeth). Or you could use a paper clip to achieve the same function; however, I didn’t want the paper clips to fall off or be swallowed by little people.  We use an expandable magnet (Thanks to my dad who has given Phil and I each one for our tool boxes) as a fishing rod.  However, in Japan we used a magnet attached to the end of a piece of string.  The other end of the string was attached to a chopstick to act as the rod.  I’ve now made one of these so all the children can play at the same time.  Tristan loves the homemade fishing rod the best!

indoor camping fun, children fishing, children learning numbers and colours, indoor pond, photo

How to go fishing for numbers:

We review the number or colour of each fish before it is thrown into the air to land somewhere in the pond.  I then call out a number or colour and we either take turns or race to see who can ‘catch’ the appropriate fish first.  If the child isn’t able to use the magnet very well, then they can simply pick up the fish with their hands.

children fishing, fine motor skills, indoor fun, learning colours, number recognition, taking turns, rainy day fun, photo

Now that Tristan has mastered 1-10, I have also made another set comprising numbers 11-20 for an added challenge.

We hadn’t used this game in some time so we brought it out again this week to use with our camping theme.  We have even made a ‘pond’ to use as well.  Tristan did a fantastic job of painting the grass around the edges to make it look like little blades of grass!

aking a pond, painting grass, chldren painting, outdoor fun, indoor fun, fine motor skills, colours, numbers, photo

Tristan’s challenge was to find the numbers 11-20 I called out at random during his turn.  The girls’ challenge was to find a fish of a particular colour.  This is a good way to keep children of different cognitive levels working together.

Additional ideas for fishing for numbers:

This not only works for colours and numbers, but also for hand-eye coordination, and taking turns.  If you choose to leave the numbers off of the fish, you could use a dry-erase marker to write the numbers on the fish, or letters, or sight-words to keep the fun of the game but increase the level of difficulty.  This will be our next task.

If you don’t want to make the fish, you could simply place paperclips on flashcards you already have for a quick and easy game on the run.

Another idea with these fish is to sing this action song to help children learn about the order of numbers (math), while moving about to engage both sides of the brain for different types of learners:

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I caught a fish alive

6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Then I threw it back again.

Why did you let it go?  Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite?  This little finger on my right.

number song, fishing, indoor play, kinetic learning, rhyming, colours, numbers, photo

To find out more about how we have expanded our ‘camping’ theme, explore our blogs about a  cardboard roll canoe, DIY Solar oven, and indoor campfire, and S’mores, or hike over to our indoor camping or summer fun pages.

Visit our pages for more ideas about learning about colours and numbers, and letters.

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Filed Under: Math Tagged With: Alphabet, Chopsticks, Colours, hand-eye coordination, Indoors, magnets, numbers, sight words, Song

About Crystal McClean

I am a Mom, Wife, Home Educator, and Virtual Assistant. We love to have fun together while learning and exploring our environment.

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Comments

  1. Beth says

    August 27, 2012 at 1:14 am

    What a fun activity! And what precious cuties you have!
    Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great week =-)
    Beth

  2. partycraftsecrets says

    August 29, 2012 at 5:31 am

    Love it! My kids and I also played pretend ponds:

  3. catherine says

    August 30, 2012 at 5:57 am

    Hello saw this over at TGIF Linky Party. We did this with paper clips and the alphabet in the kiddie pool. Love this idea with a pretend pond and staples. (Momma’s Fun World)

    • crystalmcclean says

      August 30, 2012 at 9:13 pm

      Thank you, and welcome aboard (pun intended)!

Trackbacks

  1. 10 Summer Indoor Learning Activities for Rainy and Hot Days | iGameMom says:
    June 24, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    […] Set up a fishing bond, have kids fish for colors, numbers, or letters. […]

  2. 20 Indoor Summer Activities for Kids to Have Fun - Hative says:
    May 20, 2015 at 11:11 am

    […] Set up a fishing bond in the house and have kids fish for colors, numbers, or letters. It’s so much fun, lively, and educational to boot! Get details here. […]

  3. 20 Indoor Summer Activities for Kids to Have Fun - Sponge Kids says:
    September 10, 2015 at 8:57 am

    […] Set up a fishing bond in the house and have kids fish for colors, numbers, or letters. It’s so much fun, lively, and educational to boot! Get details here. […]

  4. 20 Indoor Kid Activities in Summer Vacation | WaaDIY says:
    December 23, 2015 at 9:09 am

    […] Set up a fishing bond in the house and have kids fish for colors, numbers, or letters. It’s so much fun, lively, and educational to boot! Get details here. […]

 
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